Australia owns the eight - Munich Rowing World Cup

It saw Australia take over at the top of both the men’s and women’s eights. It saw Poland continue to reign in the men’s quad. It saw Great Britain assert themselves in the women’s quad. It was a busy afternoon on the 1972 Olympic Regatta Course.

Men’s Four (M4-)

Great Britain went on a winning spree that took them through 2005, 2006 and most of 2007. When they finished outside the medals in fourth at last year’s World Rowing Championships, coach Juergen Grobler decided it was time for a shake-up. A winter of hard training has seen Alex Partridge dropped from the boat. Would they live up to expectations here at Munich?

The answer must be a resounding, yes.

Great Britain got off the line first and opened up a small gap over the Czech Republic in second with the Netherlands and Germany One moving together. The dominating Great Britain of the 2005 and 2006 era then reared its head again moving out into an open water lead. Now the Czech Republic had to contend with a huge challenge from both the Netherlands and Germany. But there was no doubt, barring disaster the winner was already decided.

Coming into the final 500 Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic were practically in a line together. It was an all-out sprint to the end. As the commentator Paul Castle noted, Great Britain was in “splendid isolation”. Great Britain were back on top with new member Tom Lucy (replacing an injured Tom James) in bow. The Czech Republic held it together the best to take second and Germany earn bronze and an unlucky Dutch crew miss out on a medal by less than a second.

Peter Reed (GBR) – Gold
“We got a good dynamic going on in the group. I really enjoyed that race. It seems that the GB team has a good start into the world cup season and we hope that we can keep that distance to the other crews.”

Milan Bruncvik (CZE) – Silver
“We are very happy. It was our goal to make it to the final. The more boats we beat the better for us. We didn’t expect second place though.”

Matthias Flach (GER) – Bronze
“This was a very important race for us in our national selection process. And I think we made it clear that we are the stronger team. It was tough, it was our third race at this regatta, but we are the German boat that should continue on the road to Beijing.”

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

This is the only Olympic event for lightweight women and for this reason it usually attracts the best of this breed. After weighing in two hours ago these athletes would have had something easy to eat and a good drink before taking to the water. Coming out of the starting blocks there was very little between the top four boats. Germany’s Berit Carow and Marie-Louise Draeger had a slight lead, but Chrysi Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece were right with them, as was Poland and China.

Going through the middle of the race Greece managed to get their nose ahead of Germany. Carow and Draeger reacted back with raw power opening up nearly a boat length over the chasers. Greece, China and the Netherlands were now practically on top of each other. At the line Carow and Draeger had scored a solid win. Biskitzi and Tsiavou, bundled in leggings and long sleeves earn silver and move a step closer to their goal of being the first female Olympic rowing medal for Greece. Haixia Chen and Dongxiang Xu of China take third in a photo finish with the Netherlands.

This Dutch crew came back together for the first time in four years earlier this season. They won bronze at the 2004 Olympics and then went their separate ways. Back together they are hoping to qualify for Beijing in the last chance next month. This result makes it look like they will do it.

Marie-Louise Draeger (GER) – Gold
“We are happy that it all went so well because we didn´t have very good races in the heats and semifinal. But this time it went well. We were able to enlarge our lead over the 2000 meters.”

Chrysi Biskitzi (GRE) – Silver
“This was the first race to actually find out how our training is going and we are very happy about the result. It is still a long road to Beijing though.”

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

With the reigning World Champions Denmark racing in the open double, this race had opened up for a new gold medallist. On paper it looked like Great Britain’s Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter (bronze medallists in 2007) would be the crew to beat. They were one of the only stable duos racing today.

Purchase and Hunter got out in front at the start and worked their way away from Maxime Goisset and Frederic Dufour of France. By the half-way point Purchase and Hunter had a three-second lead with Italy’s Lorenzo Bertini and Daniele Gilardoni challenging France for second. As the Brits moved further away in the lead, France and Italy remained head to head. The silver medal was going to be decided in the final sprint. France sprinted, barely retaining their technique together, Italy tried to hold on. At the line Great Britain earn their first World Cup gold medal, France take silver and an exhausted looking Italy earn bronze.

Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter (GBR) – Gold
“We are training better as a unit this year may be that´s the secret about GB`s success here at the World Cup. It´s great to be a part of this good start. We hope to maintain and improve our level.”

Frederic Dufour (FRA2) – Silver
“We are pretty happy about the result. We haven’t rowed together for very long and we wanted to use this regatta to improve and to get to a better level.”

Daniele Gilardoni (ITA) – Bronze
“It was a good race and our first racing experience in a double together. It was a bit difficult at the end, because the course conditions really changed over the last couple of hundred metres. We are still at the beginning of rowing together and we hope and pray that we will be able to stay in the double to go to the Olympics. Nothing has been decided yet.”

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

The Chinese lightweight four burst on the international scene in 2006 when they became World Champions. They were unable to repeat it the next year, but today at Munich, China, with the same 2006 crew, are back on top. As is typical in lightweight rowing, all boats were very close at the start. Only Serbia looked to be dropping away.

Last year’s World Champions, Great Britain had established themselves into second but were being challenged hard by Germany. The British – German battle brought these two countries closer and closer to China. The Chinese held on. Three boats crossed the line. Less than a second separated them. China had struck gold. Great Britain take silver and Germany earn bronze. This will be a big boost to Germany who still need to qualify this boat for the Beijing Olympics.

James Clarke (GBR) – Silver
“It took us quite a while to get in our rhythm. This race was a good lesson for the next ones. It could have bee so nice to win but the Chinese are just too strong. Anyway it seems that Munich is not one of my favourite courses.”

Bastian Seibt (GER) – Bronze
“We are very happy with this regatta. In the heat and semi we proved that we are the top German boat and in the final we wanted to show that we can be in front also at an international level also. And the result is fantastic. We were also ahead of the Irish and the team from Serbia who will be our competitors at the Olympic selection regatta. Then again, it will be the result of June 18 which will count…”

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

They may be three-time consecutive World Champions, but Great Britain choose not to leave anything to chance. They know the power of Germany in this event. They also know that they have been beaten by China at the World Cup. With that in mind, Great Britain’s powerful Scottish stroke Katherine Grainger got their boat out in front and kept a wary eye on both China and Germany.

By the half-way point the Germans, stroked by the great Kathrin Boron who is preparing to go after Olympic gold number five, were the closest to Great Britain. Grainger pushed on. In the final sprint both China and Germany let loose. Great Britain held them off. The gold goes to Great Britain, silver to Germany and bronze to China, with China’s second crew in fourth.

Katherine Grainger (GBR) – Gold
“I felt quite comfortable in the race. We wanted to send a message at this regatta and show that last year wasn’t just a one-off. But it’s still a long, long way to go until Beijing and there will still be a lot more happening along the way.”

Manuela Lutze (GER) – Silver
“There is still quite a lot of work to do, since we’ve only rowed together since two weeks and you definitely feel that during a race. In addition, the conditions weren’t very easy to row in. There hasn’t been a final decision made yet if this is actually the team for Beijing.”

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

Poland has won the World Rowing Championships for the last three years. They have not lost a race in the past three years. They have retained the same line-up and coach for the last three years. They are aiming for Olympic gold. They made another step towards this goal today. Opening up in the lead, Poland got out in front of the fast-starting Slovenians and Germany. The German crew has been reshuffled and reconstituted from the one that medalled last year while the Slovenians are boating a new-look crew.

France then decided to get in on the action from the back of the field and pushed their way past Slovenia, then put Germany in their sights. In the sprint to the line Poland stayed ahead, Germany held off France, and Slovenia was running out of steam. Poland continue their winning streak, Germany take silver and France earn gold. Slovenia, in fourth, had raced as hard as they were able.

Adam Korol (POL) – Gold
“It was a very, very hard race but we had a good line which is very important today. We are training very hard right now and are a little bit tired so we really didn’t expect to win this race.”

Rene Bertram (GER) – Silver
“We’ve just been training together since a few days. But we managed to improve from race to race. So we are satisfied with the result. I also think that our coach is satisfied with it and so hopefully we can stay together as a team.”

Pierre-Jean Peltier (FRA) – Bronze
“This was my first race in the quad and I am new in the boat, since I used to be in the single. I am very happy about the race and I hope I proved I belong in the boat with this result.”

Women’s Eight (W8+)

In Australian team selection, the eight has been chosen as the top sweep boat. Today they returned to Europe after their summer of racing and trials to test their boat speed on the international stage. The result must have been pleasing. China and Australia went out together at the start of the race with China moving away to a slight edge lead. The Australians kept in the boat and kept the work on so that by half-way China still only had a tiny advantage. Then the Australians unleashed such a solid second half that no other country, not even the mighty Romanians, were able to stay with them.

At the line Australia had won by a whopping six seconds – a huge amount in an eights race. China came in second with Olympic Champions Romania back in third and a full four seconds behind China. Even for the most insightful of rowing punters, this result must be recognised as truly surprising.

Sally Kehoe (AUS) – Gold
“It was a great race for us. We could improve our heat performances. Of course this result here would be our dream result at the Olympics. For this we are heading back to Australia after the World Cup in Lucerne for more training.”

Viorica Susanu (ROU) – Bronze
“For the moment we are happy. Our training has gone very well until now.”

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Like the women’s eight, the men’s eight result would have been hard to guess. Like the women’s eight it was Australia leading the way. The Australian men finished off last season with the disappointment of finishing one place outside of Olympic qualification. Then at the end of the year they found out a disqualification of the Russian eight meant Australia was elevated into qualification position. Five-time Olympian James Tomkins breathed a sigh of relief.

Behind Australia, Great Britain and China were pushing hard. Unlike the women’s eight race, boats remained within striking distance of each other and overlapping. The sprint to the line saw Great Britain take the pressure up a notch and close the gap on Australia with China dropping back just a bit. Australia had earned gold, Great Britain take silver and China earn their second ever World Cup medal in this event, a bronze.

Steve Stewart (AUS) – Gold
“We went out quite hard and it felt good. Half way through the course it still felt good so we just kept going. The third five hundred got a bit messy due to the conditions, but we managed to keep going hard and strong. This is a great result. We are a new team and have a new attitude and will keep working hard.”